Lauren’s Note: Today we welcome another guest blogger! Elizabeth and I went to high school together but in more recent years, I enjoyed following her food/lifestyle blog The Waspy Readhead. She hasn’t blogged there in awhile but it’s still worth mentioning. Her post on her Instagram Wall inspired my own Instagram wall in my apartment. I was excited when she reached out to me and wanted to guest blog for Boxy Ladies about Nature Box! Without further ado… here’s Elizabeth!
Hello there! Allow me to introduce myself, I’m Elizabeth, and I’m a recovering beauty box junkie. They say admitting you have a problem is the first step. I’m not currently receiving any beauty boxes, because I feel like I have enough sample sized skincare and hair products to run a department store cosmetics counter out of my master bath. I am however, getting a monthly delivery of tasty snacks from a company called “Nature Box.”
I first heard about Nature Box because they’re a sponsor of some of my favorite podcasts like “Stuff Mom Never Told You” and “Stuff You Missed In History Class” (sidebar: If you haven’t checked out the great content on How Stuff Works, you totally need to). I ordered a free trial from their website, and quickly fell in love. It’s a pretty simple concept, you select from a variety of plan sizes based on the number of snacks you need, then browse their snack options and add things to your “pantry” that you would like to try. Each month on a date you select, you receive your box with new snacks to enjoy. We’ve been doing it for 4 months now, and have really enjoyed it. Each month when the box comes it’s kind of like Christmas. It’s so exciting to open the box, try each of the snacks and see which ones are our favorites. Plans start at $19.95 per month but you can save 15% by purchasing a 6-month package up front.
Nature Box offers more than a hundred snacks to choose from and they frequently introduce new options. While the snacks aren’t billed as healthy, per se, Nature Box does have a pledge that all of their snacks are free of hydrogenated oils, artificial colors, sweeteners, flavors, and added sulfites. Each snack is under 200 calories per serving. I feel like Nature Box snacks are more reasonable options than traditional junk food, BUT, you have to be very careful about portion control since they’re not individually packaged. Many of the snacks would be easy to eat more than your daily allowance of sodium or fat if you’re not careful and had several servings.
What I dig about Nature Box is that they have a great variety of sweet, savory, salty, crunchy, chewy snacks going on. Everyone has their preferred type of snack. I’m definitely a crunchy/salty/savory gal. My husband is a sweet or spicy guy. Our “deluxe” subscription of 5 snacks per month gives us enough variety to meet both our snacking desires. There have been a few items we felt were duds (I’m looking at you, lemon tea biscuits), but for the most part, each of the snacks we’ve tried was delicious. Some of our favorites are Sriracha Cashews (I can’t quit you), Sriracha Pop Pops, Peanut Butter Nom Noms (like a soft granola cookie ball) and Guacamole Bites (like a green, baked frito – if that makes any sense).
Final Grade: A
I give Nature Box an A for the quality and variety of snack options, the convenience, and the price. I think we’ll keep it up for several more months, because I’ve enjoyed having these treats around the house. I feel like I’m buying less snacky things at the grocery store, and sticking to what I need to make our planned meals as well as pantry staples. This is nice because I can be easily distracted by shiny things at the grocery store that can mess with my diet regime and our budget.
Thank you to the team at Boxy Ladies for giving me the opportunity to pen a guest post. I hope your readers found it valuable. Would love to hear if any of you give Nature Box a try – feel free to drop me a note on Twitter or Instagram.